One of South Korea’s largest umbrella trade unions Sunday vowed to push ahead with its plan to host a mass antigovernment rally on Dec. 5, despite facing heat from the government and the police’s recent ban on a similar demonstration on the same day by a local farmers’ group over concerns about violence.
“Our plan to hold the protests remains unchanged, and all responsibilities for events that may take place on Dec. 5 falls on the administration.” said Park Seong-shik, spokesman for the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions. “The KCTU has made it clear that (the Dec.5) rally will be a peaceful one unless (the police) block our path with bus barricades and water cannons.”
Although the authorities have yet to approve or prohibit the rally, he added that the group will hold the rally regardless of whether or not the police give the go-ahead.
The move by the KCTU came on the heels of the police banning another massive rally by the Korean Peasants League. The KPL had given notice of a plan to hold a rally drawing some 10,000 participants near City Hall in Jung-gu, central Seoul to police, who shot it down Saturday, citing the possibility that violence could break out at the event.
Although Korean law stipulates that authorities must grant the permit for a “lawful” protest upon declaration, it also states that any rally that “will clearly disrupt public order and inflict damage upon the people via violence, threat, arson” can be banned. Police said as the KPL was one of leading groups of the Nov. 14 antigovernment rally ― which the government has labelled a “violent and illegal” protest ― its December demonstration is likely to turn violent as well.
The KPL has pledged to proceed with the protests as scheduled, seeking a court injunction to overturn the police ban.
Both the government and the ruling Saenuri Party has moved to ban the KCTU’s protests as well. Saenuri leader Kim Moo-sung claimed Friday that authorities should not allow the protests, and said that the country’s per capita income would have already exceeded $30,000 “if it were not for KCTU that frequently carries out radical illegal protests.”
The KCTU chimed in to denounce the police ban on the KPL protest, calling it a “dictatorial” move and a “blatant denial” of the right to assembly stipulated in the Constitution.
The Dec. 5 rally is a follow-up to the November protests that decried the government’s much-disputed policies of reinstating government-issued textbooks, opening agricultural markets and reforming the labor sector.
The government and the Saenuri remain at loggerheads with the participating groups and the opposition over who is to blame for the escalation of violence at the rally and scores of injuries suffered by both the police and the protesters, the worst of which was suffered by a 69-year-old farmer who remained in a coma as of Sunday.
Last week, Park called for a ban on masked protests and warned she would not tolerate “illegal protests.” But her comparison likening the masked participants to Islamic State group terrorists touched off a furious reaction from civic groups and opposition lawmakers alike.
Another controversy erupted recently after unconfirmed claims that a police water cannon deliberately aimed at an injured protester being carried from the scene in an ambulance. An association of local medical students is planning a collective action in protest of the alleged abuse by law enforcement.
In addition to saying it would push ahead with protests, the KCTU also expressed concern over recent reports that police are planning to raid a Buddhist temple to arrest KCTU chief Han Sang-kyun ― who took refuge there on accusations of his part in leading the illegal protest.
The umbrella union also warned against the National Assembly discussing labor reforms, which encompass thorny issues such as the definition of regular wage and expanding scope of temporary work. It vowed to initiate a general strike on the event of Han’s arrest or the labor reforms bill’s deliberation.
By Yoon Min-sik
(minsikyoon@heraldcorp.com)
